'When the nation turned its sail to the wind of prosperity, and the masses were being borne away on the downward drift of indifference to God's Voice, reckoning popularity as an evidence of truth, the prophets of God still held their ground, although denied, deserted, misused, and isolated. The Word spoken through them made nations ... boiling cauldrons; dethroned kings, and turned princes to dust.'

I've been away for a few days at Staff Conference, which is one of the few times in the year when the ministers of the Apostolic Church get together from all across the UK. It's good fun to meet up with friends and colleagues from other parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (and usually to meet some new people too), and it's encouraging to hear what God is doing in assemblies up and down the country. And, on top of that, it's also good to come together to worship, pray and hear from God together.

Coming back from Staff Conference I've been thinking a bit about Apostle and Prophet ministry. In the Apostolic Church we've always seen something particularly special about the apostle and prophet ministering together.

'The Apostle and prophet are always to be considered as complementary and interdependent offices in the Body. God in divine ordination has always linked them together in the government of the Church.' (The Apostolic Church: Its Principles & Practices, 1937 edition, p. 229).

Jehu of Israel (2 Kings 9-10) was a king with a rather dramatic reign. The things for which he's best remembered are the events through which he established himself on the throne, for when Jehu became king, lots of people died. Yet his reign didn't quite begin with bloodshed. His reign began when the Word of God came. The prophet Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to Jehu with the news that God had anointed him king over Israel. (2 Kings 9:1-3). The Word of God came and it changed everything. God's Word overthrew the House of Omri and established the House of Jehu. The Word of the Lord brought vengeance on Queen Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37). The Word of the Lord proved powerful indeed.

Jehu reigned for 28 years (2 Kings 10:36), and yet the book of 2 Kings only really tells us about the events of him coming to the throne. Obviously other major events happened throughout his reign (otherwise it would have been one of the quietest reigns of any king in the ancient near east), yet the Bible chooses to focus on just the bloodbath of his rise to power. But why?

Sometimes these Old Testament events seem rather far removed from us. How are we to understand and apply such passages today? Clearly we're not supposed to imitate Jehu, but what's it all about?

'Easter is fast approaching. As Christians begin to turn their gaze towards the death and resurrection of the Savior, it seems appropriate that we should look for resources that will help us meditate on the cross and that will help prepare our hearts. To that end I’d like to suggest five books (plus a few more resources at the end) that you may wish to read as Easter approaches.' [And the books he recommends are excellent.]

A former Roman Catholic, who wants to reach out to Catholics with the Gospel, points out some mistaken ideas that Protestants have about the Catholic Mass. 'If effectiveness in gospel renewal is related to upholding truth and avoiding straw men, these lessons should be noted... Fruitful gospel conversations require us to get the facts straight.'

Carl Trueman (who is always worth reading) reviews a book (to which Christ Castaldo, above, is one of the contributors) looking at the reasons for converting to and from evangelicalism (to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism). 'In conclusion, this is an excellent volume. I trust my pushback against Ellsworth, Beckwith and Gregory will be read in the spirit in which it is intended, not as a spiteful attack but as a respectful, if spirited, response to their sincere and spirited criticisms of evangelicalism. I know they love their ecclesiastical homes as I love mine. Indeed, this book has helped me to love mine more while understanding in a deeper way why others think the way they do.'

'And the Lamb of God ... was chastised on our behalf, and suffered a penalty He did not owe, but which we owed because of the multitude of our sins; and so He became the cause of the forgiveness of our sins, because He received death for us, and transferred to Himself the scourging, the insults, and the dishonour, which were due to us, and drew down upon Himself the appointed curse, being made a curse for us.'

It's easy to go one of two ways on a Sunday. Either down the road of making lots of rules and restrictions so that you can't wait for Monday, or else forgetting that there's anything special about Sunday at all and treating it just like any other day. A second Saturday, if you will.

Yet, the Bible doesn't go down either of these roads. We're not told to keep Sunday special by keeping lots of rules. Nor are we told to forget about the fourth commandment. Rather, we're told to 'call the Sabbath a delight' (Isa. 58:13).

If it's to be a delight, it's not supposed to be a burden. That means it's not a day of painful restriction. It shouldn't be a day we can't wait to see the back of, but a day we eagerly anticipate and on which we rejoice.

The Sabbath isn't about a work that we perform to please God, but rather it's about receiving a day of rest as a gift from God. It's not about an inconvenience of what can or can't be done, but the privilege of being able to put aside the work and cares of the week.

So how do we call the Sabbath a delight? By spending the day in God's presence and God's service. It's the day when we gather together as God's people under His Word and around His Table, the day when we feed on Christ together through Word and Sacrament. So we rejoice together as we worship together.

And it's the day when we anticipate our future, eternal rest. But just like that eternal rest, the rest of our day of rest isn't the rest of doing nothing, but the rest of worship, resting on what Christ has done.

And as we rest from the work and cares of the week, we have a day where we have time we don't have during the week: more time for prayer, more time for God's Word, more time to serve God. All too often we complain that we don't have time when it comes to serving God, yet God Himself has set apart a day for us to use for His worship and service.

Christ is the centre of the Christian faith. More specifically, according to the apostle Paul, it is Christ crucified who is at the centre (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2). This means that Christ and His Cross is the source of all the blessings of the Christian life. Every aspect of the Christian life links back to Christ and the Cross. This is certainly true of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Afterall, the role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ (Jn. 16:14), and Christ is glorified in multiple ways by the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, both in its giving and its receiving.

Christ is the Giver

On the Day of Pentecost, not only were Christians baptized in the Holy Spirit for the first time, but a theological explanation was also given for the events that were witnessed that day. In his sermon, Peter declared:

'What of you? You have one primary offensive weapon with which to do battle against sin: "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph 6.17). Can you afford to have that potent blade wrapped up in the electronic cobwebs of some computer programme when you need it for the fight?' On Google, memory and Scripture.

'The separation from paedobaptists we love may be painful, but it is separation to obey Jesus. The surpassing greatness of knowing him is worth whatever it costs.' There's some helpful reading recommended at the end of the article.

'Please hear me correctly on this one, I love contemporary worship songs as much as anyone but I think that many of the people in our churches really do believe that they can encounter Jesus more by singing the latest Matt Redman / Tim Hughes / Simon Brading song than by being obedient to the words of Jesus to “Do this in remembrance of me.”'

It can't be proven, but I highly suspect that if you're reading this blog, then it's due to one of either two things: either you know me somehow, or you stumbled across it while searching for songs about the Trinity. Believe it or not, the most read post of all time on this blog is about the Trinitarian content (or lack thereof, as the case may be) of worship songs. So, I thought today that I'd finally do a post on some Trinitarian worship songs. Of course, it isn't an exhaustive list, but hopefully it will give you some ideas for new worship songs, older worship songs, and a few hymns as well.

(Where the composer has freely provided Chord Charts or Lead Sheets online, I've included links.)

One of the newest of worship songs meets one of the oldest of hymns. Zac Hicks has taken Ambrose of Milan's ancient hymn and combined it with the Gloria Patri and some great music that fits the majestic theme to craft a deeply theological Trinitarian worship song. (The Video below is of the album recording from Without Our Aid.)

When are Christians baptised in the Holy Spirit? Is it something that happens automatically at the same time as salvation, or does it come later? According to the New Testament, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit does not occur automatically at the same time as conversion. In fact we see in the Scriptural examples that it was something that normally happened to Christians after being saved. This is what we call the doctrine of subsequence: the fact that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation.

The Day of
Pentecost: Acts 2:1-4

In Acts 2, with the day of Pentecost, it's very clear that the disciples were baptised in the Holy Spirit some time after being saved. Most of these people had been followers of Jesus for quite some time before His crucifixion. They knew that Jesus had died on the Cross and risen again. In fact they had probably all seen Him after His resurrection. So, in addition to the fact that they were already Jesus’ followers, we have good evidence that they believed the gospel: that Jesus had died for their sins and risen again. So, these people were saved. Their obedience to Jesus’ command in staying in the city and waiting for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (cf Luke 24:49) is further proof of their faith. Yet they had to wait ten days after Jesus ascended before receiving the promised Baptism in the Holy Spirit. So it's very clear that there was a time gap between their salvation and their Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But we have to admit that this is an unusual case. This was the first time that anyone was baptised in the Holy Spirit. In fact the Bible states explicitly that people could not receive the Holy Spirit until Christ was glorified (John 7:39). Yet the day of Pentecost is not the only biblical example of subsequence.

On Tuesday I was writing about how the Church is at the centre of God's purpose, and so it's not a means to an end, but rather it is an end. And yesterday I looked a bit more at the nature of this 'end', and saw that God's Eternal Purpose involves Christ filling the Church with all His fullness. Today I want to think a bit more about how. How is the Church filled with the fullness of Christ?